Shadows and Dust
by JediLacey
Summary: Left behind after an away mission gone bad, two members of Enterprise are kidnapped, tortured, and forced to go to war. What happens when they are found? AU, no spoilers


Title: Shadows and Dust

Rating: PG

Author: Leyli

Summary: Left behind after an away mission gone bad, two members of Enterprise are kidnapped, tortured, and forced to go to war. What happens when they are found? (AU, no spoilers)

Disclaimer: I own nothing. Not Star Trek, not Enterprise, not even myself. Please don't sue me. :) This is actually a re-vamp, major rewrite of a story I wrote years ago on this site and never finished. :o

**Chapter 1  
**

* * *

"Captain," T'Pol's low voice broke through the quietness of the bridge. Quietness was expected. There wasn't much to speak about these days.

"Sub-Commander?" Archer sounded weary, broken, as he had for quite some time.

"I believe there may be a problem with our sensors. Permission to run a diagnostic?"

"Granted. Let me know your findings." He didn't even glance in her direction. There also wasn't much eye contact these days.

A few moments passed before the Vulcan spoke up again, "Sir, I believe there may be a problem with the sensors although my diagnostic revealed no malfunctions. I will need to run more tests."

"And what makes you believe there is a problem with the censors if the scans are all normal?" He did look at her this time, breaking his gaze on the large blue/green planet in front of them which had previously been the object of all of his attention. He was slightly annoyed at her intrusion into his silence.

"Sir, while scanning the planet I encountered an anomaly that I know for certain cannot exist. Therefore, the censors must be malfunctioning." She met his gaze evenly but there was a tone to her voice that said if she were human, she'd be unhappy.

"What anamoly?"

"Sir..."

"What anomaly?" He wanted a straight answer, not formalities.

"I'm reading biosigns that I know could not possibly exist on this planet." She didn't want to elaborate. That wasn't like T'Pol.

"And whom do those biosigns belong to...?" This shouldn't be twenty questions.

She paused, briefly. "The biosigns belong to Lieutenant Reed, Captain."

All eyes on the bridge were now focused on the Sub-Commander. It was impossible to say the least.

"Reed is dead." Archer snapped, "Run your tests."

* * *

It had been seventeen months. Seventeen months since the ill-fated away mission that claimed the lives of three of their own. Malcolm Reed, Travis Mayweather, and Franklin Rhodes were sent down to investigate a distress call made from a Vulcan shuttle pod that had crash landed on a remote planet. Shuttle pod One had met it's fate almost immediately upon entering the planet's atmosphere. Ensign Rhodes was the first to die. Enterprise still had audio contact with the shuttle at that point.  
The entire bridge crew listened as he burned to death as the shuttle took more and more damage. His screams and the screams of the two others trying to save him lasted nearly three minutes before the commlink broke. Ensign Rhodes biosigns faded away shortly after. Reed and Mayweather shortly thereafter; blinked out in a moment as if they had never existed at all.

They scanned the planet, tried to send down the second shuttle, but the electrical storms were too great. Eventually, they had managed to beam on board a few objects from the shuttle, including the charred remains of Ensign Rhodes, the shuttle's black box, and Ensign Mayweather's left boot. After ten days in orbit there wasn't much left to do but leave. This had been a major source of contention amongst the crew, especially the senior staff. Trip and Hoshi refused to believe that their friends were gone without more proof. Phlox and T'Pol both reasoned that it was impossible for them to have survived so long and thought the ship would be more useful somewhere else. Archer didn't voice his opinion on the matter but it was clear that he was heartbroken over the situation and dearly wanted to remain and keep hope. The decision was removed from him however when the orders from Starfleet came down declaring Mayweather and Reed missing in action and ordering Enterprise to depart the planet's orbit.

It had taken months for the crew to fall into an uneasy routine. Tucker kept mainly to himself and spent far too many hours in engineering tinkering with his engine. The engine had never been as efficient although the smiling, jovial, Trip was very rarely seen from that day forward. If Trip did venture out of his cabin or engineering, it was only to speak with or see a movie with Hoshi, who had been promoted to Lieutenant three months after the accident but like Tucker, had also become withdrawn and isolated from the rest of the crew.

T'Pol and Phlox became closer as a result of the deaths. The Vulcan and the Denoblian often spent long hours together in the mess hall or the sickbay in companionable silence while completing reports or studying data from the respective departments. Occasionally they spoke of their deceased crew mates but they choose to speak about subjects other than their untimely fate.

Archer was perhaps the most changed by the event. He had become hard and difficult to communicate with. It was clear to the rest of the crew that he blamed himself for the deaths and he could often be seen late at night wandering the corridors and berating himself for his actions during those ten days.

Seventeen months to change their lives and one scan to possibly give them hope again.


End file.
